If you have a classic car that’s over 40 years old, you’ll be pleased to hear that new Department for Transport (DfT) rules mean you won’t need to send your vehicle in for an MOT – unless you yourself decide you want to get it done, of course!

The move will also see the age of cars that are exempt from these tests brought in line with road tax exemptions, Autocar reports. Concerns that such vehicles could pose bigger risks of failure than modern ones were dismissed by the DfT because the cars registered between the old exemption and the new one are substantially lower in terms of failure rates than the national average.

According to the DfT, the rationale behind this move is that classic cars are “usually maintained in good condition and used on few occasions”.

“The option for owners to submit their vehicles to a voluntary MOT test will remain and they will still, like all vehicle owners, need to ensure that they meet the legal requirement of keeping their vehicle in a roadworthy condition at all time,” it was noted, however.

For new cars, it was proposed at the start of the year that they be required to take their first MOT test after four years from 2018 instead of three.

Transport minister Andrew Jones said at the time that new vehicles are now a lot safer than they were 50 years ago, which is why the MOT test should be brought up to date in order to help motorists save cash wherever they can.